London's Warming: The Impacts of Climate Change on London (original) (raw)

Climate Change and Urban Environment: Issues, Potentials and Sustainable Development Opportunities

Climate change has been simultaneously at the periphery and centre of critical global and national decision making due to the urgency of its nature with the major challenge of a demand for decelerating economic growth. The impacts of climate change for India are large with extreme weather conditions, changing rainfall patterns, droughts, groundwater crisis, glacier melts, sea level rise posing challenges to agriculture and food security, energy security, water security and public health. Climate change is the significant change or shift in the long term weather patterns due to natural or anthropogenic factors. The warming trend over large areas of earth surface since the beginning of 20 th century has brought curiosity and attention of researchers, planners and policy makers around the world. This increase in temperature and its continuing trend along with the associated impacts on natural resources have become a serious concern of the global community irrespective of developed, developing and under developed countries. The potential threats posed by climate change have been recognized by policy makers since at least the year 1988 when the UN General Assembly endorsed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the request of its member countries. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) treaty was negotiated at the Earth Summit held at Rio de Janeiro in the year 1992. The treaty recognised that anthropogenic activities are behind climate change and that greenhouse gas emissions need to be checked to reduce its impact. This treaty was ratified and became effective since 1994. In 1997 came the Kyoto Protocol, which was a legally binding agreement. In the year 2010, in the Cancun Agreements, it was decided that the emissions should be curtailed to the pre-industrialisation levels. Hence it is of utmost importance to mainstream the climate change mitigation and adaptation into the overall development plans of the Country since India is also facing a number of issues as a fall out of climate change. The State of Kerala with its long narrow coastal belt and the vast stretch of hilly terrain and forests in the Western Ghats region is also facing the impacts of climate change in the form of floods, draughts, loss of biodiversity and natural resources, impact on health, etc. It is in this context that the Kerala Environment Congress organised by Centre for Environment and Development on the focal theme "Climate Change and Sustainable Development" assumes great importance. The KEC seeks to spearhead the message of climate change mitigation and adaptation strategy on different development sectors such as agriculture and food security, ecology and environment, ecosystems and biodiversity, urban planning, forestry, health, education, policy on coastal zone management, energy, water, etc. The presentations and panel discussions during the event and the papers published in this Proceedings will go a long way to bring into focus the need for sustainability and awareness generation at every step by reminding the audience and readers of the impacts noticed and the probable future scenario if warnings are not heeded. I hope that, like the earlier Congresses, this year too, this collection of research papers and articles will inspire scientists, academicians, policy makers, environmentalists, and the enlightened citizens contribute their might to the climate change mitigation and adaptation-the most important issue of the 21 st century.

Climate Change, Employment and Local Development in London, UK

2011

London and the UK are far from immune from the impacts of climate change. The UK is already experiencing the effects of climate change in the form of increased sea-surface temperature and rising sea levels. If global GHG emissions continue unabated, London in particular, will be vulnerable to floods, droughts and heat waves. To achieve ambitious emission-cutting targets, the Mayor

Gap Analysis of the London Climate Change Adaptation Strategy

2011

Drought 6.1 Risk of droughtk 40 6.2 Drought risk in the London Strategy 41 6.3 Key Actors for drought risk int the London Strategy 43 6.4 Proposed Actions for drought risk in the London Strategy 6.5 Gaps in the drought risk strategy for London 45 7. Overheating 7.1 Risk of overheating 46 7.2 Risk of overheating in the London Strategy 47 2 Climate Change Adaptation 2.1 Defining adaptation Unlike mitigation which has a clear focus on reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, adaptation is a diffused concept and highly context-dependent. Within the context of the human dimension of global change, adaptation can be defined as "a process, action or outcome in a system (household, community, group, sector, region, country) in order for the system to better cope with, manage or adjust to some changing condition, stress, hazard, risk or opportunity" (Smit and Wandel, 2006). With particular reference to climate change, the IPCC definition of adaptation as 'adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects' (McCarthy et al., 2001) has been the most influential definition and been repeatedly used in the literature. In the context of the built environment, adaptation can be described as the ability of cities and regions to adjust to climate variability and extremes, managing their consequences to minimise their effects. There are two temporal situations of adaptation: anticipatory or proactive adaptation denotes those preparatory measures that are introduced prior to the actual occurrence of an event (e.g. flood, drought or heatwave); whereas reactive adaptation refers to an immediate response to the change in conditions in order to avail stability. In terms of its stimulus, adaptation can either be autonomous, that is, triggered by variation in social, economic or environmental systems, or planned, that is, emerging from policies seeking to achieve balance (IPCC, 2007). It should be noted

Climate change impacts and adaptation in cities: a review of the literature

Climatic Change, 2011

Many of the decisions relating to future urban development require information on climate change risks to cities This review of the academic and "grey" literature provides an overview assessment of the state of the art in the quantification and valuation of climate risks at the city-scale. We find that whilst a small number of cities, mostly in OECD countries, have derived quantitative estimates of the costs of climate change risks under alternative scenarios, this form of analysis is in its infancy. The climate risks most frequently addressed in existing studies are associated with sea-level rise, health and water resources. Other sectors such as energy, transport, and built infrastructure remain less studied. The review has also undertaken a case study to examine the progress in two cities-London and New York-which are relatively advanced in the assessment of climate risks and adaptation. The case studies show that these cities have benefitedT from stakeholder engagement at an early stage in their risk assessments. They have also benefited from the development of specific institutional responsibilities for coordinating such research from the outset. This involvement has been critical in creating momentum and obtaining resources for subsequent in-depth analysis of sectoral impacts and adaptation needs..T While low cost climate down-scaling applications would be useful in future research, the greatest priority is to develop responses that can work within the high future uncertainty of future climate change, to build resilience and maintain flexibility. This can best be used within the context of established risk management practices.

Urban Adaptation: IPCC Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability

IPCC WGII Asessment Report 5: Chapter 8: Urban Areas, 2014

Adaptation to climate change depends centrally on what is done in urban centres – which now house more than half the world’s population and concentrate most of its assets and economic activities This will require responses by all levels of government as well as individuals and communities, the private sector and civil society. The serious impacts of extreme weather on many urban centres each year demonstrate some of the risks and vulnerabilities to be addressed. Climate change will usually add to these and other risks and vulnerabilities. Urban policies also have major implications for mitigation, especially for future levels of greenhouse gas emissions and for delivering co-benefits.

Climate change: comparative impact on developing and developed countries

2011

Government organizations are responsible for strategic decisions regarding the economic development of individual countries and regional areas. This decision-making process is influenced by the certainty of the information presented to government officials. One area where this decision-making influence is challenging government officials is in climate-based events. The past decade has witnessed a significant rise in the number of climate events, as well as the number of people affected by climate events.